Heat exchange unit



May 31, 1949. L. P. SEIFNER ETAL HEAT EXCHANGE UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 19, 1945 NVENTORS d Lav ATTORN EYS LOUIS F2 SEIF ER 6 RALPH C. MOREAU y 1949- 1.. SEIFNER ETAL 2,471,784

' HEAT EXCHANGE UNIT Filed Nov. 19, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i8 LOUIS P. SEIFNER 8| RALPH C. MOREAU INVENT-ORS ATTORNEYS p tented May 31,1949

.j I HEAT EXCHANGE UNIT Louis 1'. -selfner and Ralph C. Moreau, Seattle,

ll -i said Moreau assignor. to said Seifner Applica air-November 19, 1945, Serial No. 629,5 34

Our invention relatesto a heat exchange unit and, more particularly, to a device for heating air. which can be installed and concealed in the wall of a room.

It is an important object of our invention to provide a heat exchange unit having upper and lower openings to draw the air from the upper portion of a room, heat it, and discharge it at a lower level in the same room.

A further object of our invention is the provision of a heat exchange unit that may be installed in a wall with a minimum of insulation and without injury to composite wall coverings by reason of vagrant heat rays escaping thereto. A further object of this invention is to provide Claim. (Cl. 236-37) its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a. view in elevation of a heat exchange unit according to our invention, with portions cut away for convenience of illustration;

a simply and cheaply constructed casing for receiving current inducing and heatexchange means, which casing. is compact enough for concealment in a wall of a room between the studdings of that wall.

The foregoing objects, and others ancillary thereto, we preferto accomplish as follows:

Walls are employed to form an elongated casing of a size and shape to be positioned in a wall of a room, and said casing has an upper adit opening and a lower discharge. opening. The

elongated casing is coupled to a heater casing that comprises an L-shaped wall having end walls. Between the end walls, in the crotch of said L-shaped wall, is mounted heat exchange means preferably of an electric resistance type. Secondary end-wall means form an end chamber juxtaposed along each of the first mentioned end walls, and other walls form a long, narrow shielding passage on that side of said L-shaped wall away from the heatexchange means.

' In the casing is employed means for inducing a current of air downward through the casing and into the heat exchange housing, and its various end chambers. shielding passages. and heat exchange chamber, and thence outward into the room.

. It is preferable that the walls of the casing and housing and its parts be formed of relatively thin sheet metal, which may be Joined in 'any conventional manner. A baille plate is disposed in the path of a current of air moving through the casing into the'heat exchange chamber, and preferably this baille plate is slit in a direction running between the end walls of the heat exchange chamber. The end chambersand the shielding passage communicate with a stream of air leaving the heat exchange chamber, which accumulates during its passage through said chambers any vagrant heat that might otherwise escape into the surrounding wall elements.

The novel features that weconsider characteristic of our invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. The invention itself, however, bothers to its organization and Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the heater taken on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the heat exchange housing with portions cut away and shown in section for convenience of illustration; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the electrical circuit employed in our heat exchange unit.

A heat exchange unit, to be reasonably satisfactory, must have at least two totally distinct characteristics: it must be capable of inexpensive construction and simple installation in a wall of a room; and it must also provide adequate air heating and circulation controllable by conventional means.

Accordingly, a preferred embodiment of our invention, referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, is constituted by' a metallic structure in which is mounted air circulating means, air heating means and air-stream dividing means.

An elongated air conduit I0, formed of sheet metal, extends between an upper fan housing l2 and 'alower heater housing II. The front wall of housing i2 has an opening it, through which air is drawn by the fan I8, operated by motor 20 that is mounted on cross-bar 24. A deflector 22 above the motor and fan tends to turn incoming air downward in the housing I! and to direct it through the communicating opening 26 in the casing III. This downwardly induced current of air passes through casing into the multi-chambered housing It from the top downward.

The housing It comprises a back wall 30, a

bottom 3|, inner end walls 32- and 33 rising above the bottom and extending forwardly from the back wall. Spaced outwardly from each of the inner end walls 82 and 33,.is an outer end wall 34, 35, that also extends forwardly from the back wall and upwardly from the bottom 3|. Between the inner end walls ls an L'-shaped wall, formedof a leg portion 31 and a foot portion 38, preferably integral with each other and Joining by the intermediate curved portion 39. The leg portion of the L-shaped wall is spaced apart from the back wall 3|), and the foot portion is spaced upward slightly from the bottom 3|. This arrangement forms a shielding passage 40, running down behind the L-shaped wall and forward under the L-shaped wall, and air descending into the housing It will pass therethrough, and forwardly outward through an opening ll between the front edge of the foot portion 88 and a, front 3. Between walls 32 and 34, running from front to rear in casing 14, is an end chamber 44. A similar chamber 45 lies between end walls 33 and 35, and air descending through the casing 80 enters these chambers through upper openings 46 and 47, and travels downwardly therethrough, as indicated in Fig. 1, and thence in under the foot portion 38 of the L-shaped wall, through the openings 46 and W in the end walls 32 and 33, to intermingle with air passing down behind and under the L-shaped wall and thence outward.

this construction, extremely economical air heat ing may be obtained, even with electric current at relatively high cost. The unit itself is simple to construct, to install and to operate.

In the path of the downwardly induced current 4 of air passing from the casing Ill. to the housing I4, is a baflle plate 10, flanged at H, inspaced apart relation to the wall 31, and slit to form elongated passage 12 running in a direction be- As can be seen in the drawings, finned strip heaters A and B of the electrical type are mount ed within the chamber dd, defined by the L- shaped wall and the inner end walls, with their ends extending into chambers M and d5. Switches F and G are mounted in chambers til and t5, respectively, with their operating elements accessible outwardly. A cover plate 52, having a grilled portion M is placed over the front of housing it, and it is through this grilled opening that the air leaving the various chambers of housing i i passes into the room.

In Fig. 4, we have shown schematically a wiring diagram suitable for electric operation and control circuits for our heater. The numerals M and ti designate the incoming leads of a 220 volt supply line, by which current is supplied to the elements A and B, through the two-pole switch F, via a thermostatic switch C that is responsive to room temperatures and calls for heat according to its setting in a conventional manner. A secondary circuit comprises the tap $3 from line 6@ and a tap til from line ti, and is controllable by the switch G, also of the conventional two-pole type. In this circuit is the motor 29, which is between "the poles of switch G. In one of the leads to'the motor it from switch G is a stack switch D that is responsive to heat within the housing it and the casing it. When the switch C calls for heat, and switches F and G are closed, the elements A and B will become hot and the fan it will induce a" down draft of air through the casing and housing and over the elements as well as through the chambers it, til and '45. Such condition will continue until the thermostatic switch C responds to the rising temperature in the room to which it is responsive and the same will open, breaking the circuit to the heaters A and B. However, the switch D will remain closed as long as there is heat within the casing it or housing iii, to which it is set to respond. This will insure a continuation of the air current after termination of the current supply, for as long as is necessary to take away thevagrant rays that nevertheless emanate from the heaters and tend to escape into the chambers, t4 and 45. After this heat is dissipated, the stack switch will normally open and the fan circuit will remain 011 until suflicient heat causes a further closing of the stack switchD.-

, By reason of the spaced apart positioning of the L-shaped wall comprisin portions 31 and 38, with respect to the back wall 30 and bottom 31, a very effective shielding passage of air during operation of the heat exchange unit is placed so I as to protect the back wall and bottom andany portion of the building structure adjacent thereto.

Operation discloses that no other insulation is required, and that with this simple mechanism effective and-safe heating to a high degree of great quantities-of air is possible. By means of tween end walls 32 and 33. That portion of the,

metal which is turned down to form slit opening 12 and comprising flanges l3 and It, also functions as baiiiing plates beneath the baiiie. These flanges also function as a nozzle to direct air passing through slit it? toward heaters A and B.

While we have shown and described particular embodiments of our invention, it will occurto those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may b made without departing from the invention, and we therefore aim in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

A heat exchang unit, consistingoi: a vertically disposed conduit having an air intake opening at its upper extremity and an air discharge opening, in a plane parallel to the upper opening, at its lower extremity; a pressure-creating fan in said upper opening; a heat exchanger in said lower opening, having finned heating elements disposed with the lowermost element nearer the discharge opening than the upper; a shield member disposed behind and below said heating elements in spaced relation to the means forming the conduit and adapted to form a'directing means for the heated air and a cold air passageway behind and below said heating elements; end chambers at each end of said heating elements, each having a cold air inlet at their tops and a discharge at their bottoms; a baille plate horizontally disposed above said heating elements; a longitudinally extending air passageway in said plate having downwardly extendin flared edges adapted to direct air under pressure downwardly upon said heatin elements; a first thermal responsive switching means responsive to heat demand and manual switching means for controlling said heating elements; and a second thermal responsive switching'means responsive to the temperature of the heating element and manual switching means for controlling said fan, said thermal responsive means being adapted to insure automatic operation of the heat exchange .unit in response to heat demands and to insure full discharge of all heat generated in said heat exchange unit.

LOUIS P. SEIFNER. RALPH C. MOREAU.

REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Young et al. Dec. 21', 1943 

